Railway tie



June 8, 1937.

Filed April 17, 1936 i 5W1 2 Q v z. 5 M A p -7.J. i 7 V 5318 Patented June 8, 1937 PATENT orrire RAILWAY TIE Jesse J. Bailey, Houston, Tex.

Application April 17,

2 Claims.

This invention relates to a railway tie.

An object of the invention is to provide a railway tie of the character described which is designed to support the railway rails.

Another object of the invention is to provide a metal railway tie of inverted channel shaped construction, the flanges being turned downwardly so as to readily embed themselves into the bed of the roadway.

The invention also embodies novel means for anchoring the rails to the tie.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a channel shaped railway tie having its marginal flanges turned downwardly, the central portion of the flanges being cut away and the tie having a central opening whereby the central portion of the tie will readily embed itself into the road bed so that the under surface of the tie throughout its length will be uniformly supported by the road bed to prevent an excessive stress on the central portion of the tie when the ends of the tie are subjected to the weight of the railway cars passing along the track.

With the above and other objects in View the invention has particular relation to certain novel features of construction, arrangement of parts and use, an example of which is given in this specification and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 shows a plan view of the tie, showing the rails secured thereon.

Figure 2 shows a side elevation.

Figure 3 shows an enlarged fragmentary longitudinal sectional view of the tie, and

Figure 4 shows a cross sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of Figure 1.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing wherein like numerals of reference designate the same parts in each of the figures, the numeral I designates the tie as a whole which is preferably formed of relatively thin metal and which is of a general channel shape with the marginal flanges 2, 2 diverging downwardly. The tie in use will be disposed transversely across the road bed 3 in the usual manner and the side flanges 2 will embed themselves into the road bed as shown in Figure 4. The central portions of the flanges 2 are cut away as at 4 and the central portion of the tie has the opening 5. The cut away portions 4 and the opening 5 are provided so that the central portion of the tie will embed itself into the road bed 3 equally with the outer ends of the tie which receive the weight of the load of the cars passing thereover to the end that the central part of the tie will not ride 1936, Serial No. 74,903

the road bed and thereby sustain an undue stress of the load which would tend to cause a bending or breaking of the tie at the center.

It is to be understood that the tie will be made of metal of sufficient strength to withstand the loads to which it is liable to be subjected. The usual rails 6, 6 will be mounted on the ties on the road bed in the usual way. On opposite sides of the rail flanges are the diagonal slots 1, 1 which are cut through the top of the tie and spaced from the respective slots 1 are the ratchet faces 8. For the purpose of securing the rails to the ties the elongated clamps 9 are provided. Each clamp is formed with a downward extension l0, each extension having the catches H, H. In ap plication a clamp 9 is turned longitudinally with respect to the corresponding slot 1 and the extension I0 is inserted through said slot and the clamp 9 is then turned to engage the catches I l, H underneath the'margins of the corresponding slot as shown in Figure 3 and at the same time the inner end of the clamp 9 will engage the downwardly sloping face of the rail flange with wedge like effect so as to clamp the rail to the tie and the outer end of the clamp 9 will engage an appropriate tooth of the corresponding rack face 8 to hold the clamp in engaging position, thus providing a very simple yet secure means for clamping the ties to the rails.

As hereinbefore stated the flanges 2, 2 diverge downwardly. This will provide a wider base for the tie and as a tie embeds itself into the road bed the material between the flanges 2 will thereby become more firmly packed thus providing a firmer support for the tie. The clamps 9 are so located as to engage the rail flanges about midway between the tie flanges 2. This will materially assist in preventing the flanges 2 from spreading. Any spreading of the flanges 2 would tend to cause the upper surface of the tie to become concave but this will be prevented by the clamps 9 and any tendency of said tie to assume such form will cause the clamps 9 to grip the rail ties more securely.

The drawing and description disclose what is now considered to be a preferred form of the invention by way of illustration only, while the -broad principle of the invention will be defined by the appended claims.

What I claim is:-

1. A railway tie having a flat upper surface and depending marginal flanges, said tie having diagonal openings spaced apart a suflicient distance to receive a rail flange between them, rail clamps having downward extensions insertable through said diagonal openings and having catches engageable underneath the tie, said diagonal openings being shaped to permit the clamps to be turned to engage the inner ends of the clamps with wedgelike effect against the upper surface of the rail flanges, the upper surface of the tie being provided with arcuate rack faces with which the outer ends of the clamps cooperate the outer ends of said clamps being flexible, thin and of greater length than the inner ends.

2. A railway tie having diagonal openings spaced apart on the upper surface thereof adapted to receive a rail flange between them, rail 

